Daniel Zeichner MP Standing up for Cambridge
Cambridge Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert last night opposed changes proposed by Bishops in the House of Lords which would have softened the impact of mean and vindictive benefit changes being introduced by the Government.
Mr Huppert failed to join Lib Dem rebels led by former leader Sir Menzies Campbell in a series of Commons votes. He supported time-limiting insurance based benefits already earned by contributions, including people suffering from cancer; new charges on vulnerable women pursuing child maintenance; and weakening government commitments to tackling child poverty. He also backed a punitive attack on social housing tenants, forcing them to move to smaller homes possibly far away and opposed Labour suggestions to help people in high-cost housing areas such as Cambridge.
Chair of Cambridge Labour Daniel Zeichner says that many Liberal Democrats in Cambridge will be horrified:
“these cuts fall particularly severely on some of the poorest children in Britain. The housing benefit changes in particular will hit people in Cambridge hard. A benefit cap which fails to take into account different housing costs in different parts of the country is a nonsense. These mean and vindictive changes will certainly offend fair-minded and decent people in Cambridge.”